Two young Burnham-On-Sea runners are celebrating after clinching top places at the South West of England Cross Country Running Championships this week.
Luke Prior, 15, and Matthew Dickinson, 17, from King Alfred school represented Somerset at the event.
Both finished third in their age groups with Matthew in the Under 20s men and Luke in the Under 17s.
Both have now been selected to represent the South West later in the year in follow-on competition.
Luke, who ran over a hilly, muddy 5.6km course, said: “I believed I could do well but not pick up a medal. The aim was top six, so I could qualify for selection to represent the South West at the London Mini Marathon in April. I am over the moon about this.” His next target for the season is Somerset Schools then National Schools in March.
Matthew Dickinson, who ran over 9km and went into this race off a limited amount of training due to injury, says he was not expecting to be in contention, said: “This is my first cross country race of the season due to injury and my come back race so to run so well off only five weeks of training is great. I can now look forward to the rest of my season.”
Matthew has been selected for the South West to run in the British Challenge International meeting in Cardiff on the 19th January but, as with Luke, his sights are on the schools competition in March were they both are at the top end of their age groups.
Pictured: Top, Luke Prior and, above, Matthew Dickinson in action
